| “Whoever believes in him (Jesus) is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” |
| —John 3:18 |
During the last year, did you celebrate your birthday? I surely hope that you did. And, if you did, what gifts did you receive? As much as you enjoyed receiving those amazing gifts, I know a secret about them. That’s right. I know a secret about each gift that you received. Do you want to know that secret?
Okay, I’ll tell you. Here’s the secret: the ones who gave those gifts to you enjoyed giving the gifts every bit as much as you enjoyed receiving them. That’s one of the truly neat things about gifts. They bless the giver and they bless the receiver.
We find an interesting example of this fact within the Scripture passage recorded in John 3:16-21:
16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”
During this Season of Lent, we must recognize the very familiar biblical account in this passage that contain one of the most well known versess in all of Scripture from the lips of Jesus:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
This verse talks about the greatest gift ever given. God loves us so much that He gave us His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be our Savior. Anyone who believes in Him—that means, literally, any person, any mom, any dad, any uncle, any aunt, any grandma, any grandpa, any boy, or any girl, anyone, anyone at all who believes in Him—will have eternal life!
Wow! What a truly spectacular gift! God, in His mercy and grace, has given us this amazing gift. And, this great gift blesses us, but it also blesses God as the Giver of that Gift. It blesses Him because it brings Him great joy to love us so much. God wants to make certain that we will have a relationship with Him through His Son, Jesus. He wants to make a provision to forgive our sins, so that we can spend eternity with Him.
During this Season of Advent, as we look forward to the return of our Great King Jesus, this reality should penetrate to the very core of our beings and give us great comfort and great joy. May it be so for you and for me.
